Hillsborough County commissioners are set to hold a public hearing and final vote today on an ordinance that would ban the sale of concentrated 7-hydroxymitragynine, known as 7-OH, a compound derived from kratom that county officials are seeking to restrict. The proposal would leave whole-leaf kratom and kratom teas legal, targeting instead the chemically enhanced, high-potency products that have drawn alarm from doctors and regulators.
The push began in June, when the County Commission voted to direct county attorneys to add 7-OH to Hillsborough's existing synthetic drug ban, according to Axios. Commissioners took the first procedural step toward the ban last month, and if that step cleared, the ordinance would return today for the public hearing and final vote. The proposed ordinance exempts whole-leaf kratom and any product not chemically enhanced, chemically altered, or otherwise concentrated for increased potency, and it would not touch the dozens of coffee shop-style retailers in the county that serve kratom brewed as tea.
Under the draft rules reported by Axios, violating the county ban would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine and 60 days in jail. Retailers selling kratom in any form, including tea shops otherwise exempt from the sales ban, would be required to post a warning sign, and Code Enforcement could fine businesses up to $500 per violation for failing to do so.
A County Death Tally
Intoxication involving mitragynine, kratom's main active ingredient, contributed to 34 deaths in Hillsborough County over the past two years, according to a figure from the county Medical Examiner's Office. The tally covers mitragynine intoxication broadly and does not attribute those deaths specifically to 7-OH.
Florida's state action has also figured in the county's effort to act on its own timeline. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier signed an emergency rule in 2025 that barred concentrations above 0.04%. In June 2026, Uthmeier signed an expanded emergency rule. According to the Florida Attorney General's office, the expanded rule limits covered compounds, including 7-hydroxymitragynine, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, and 7-acetoxymitragynine, to 1 milligram per gram for solids or per milliliter for liquids, and requires products to contain at least 100 times more mitragynine by mass than those derivatives. The county is considering its own ordinance in case the statewide rule expires.
An Addiction Specialist's Work
Dr. Jason Fields is an addiction psychiatrist at BayCare Behavioral Health and works in addiction treatment.
Fields has cautioned that the concern isn't limited to 7-OH: he has said kratom in its natural form is unregulated and has caused problems for people prone to substance abuse even before 7-OH entered the picture, while also noting the leaf may provide chronic pain relief for some users. His advice, per Fields, is that people with a history of substance use disorder should approach kratom with caution regardless of form.
Statewide and National Numbers Behind the Push
The Hillsborough debate lands amid a broader reckoning with kratom's risks across Florida and the country. A Tampa Bay Times investigation found more than 580 kratom-related overdose deaths statewide over the past decade, including 46 deaths in which the person overdosed solely on kratom — and at least a fifth of those solely-kratom overdoses involved products manufactured to be more concentrated than traditional fresh-leaf forms. Nationally, a CDC website analysis cited by Stateline found 14,449 kratom exposure reports from 2015 through 2025, including 3,434 in 2025 alone — about 1,200% more than in 2015.
Florida Poison Control logged 95 calls involving 7-OH and other derivatives in just the first four months of 2026, according to WUSF. States have responded with widely varying approaches: at least 31 states now regulate kratom in some form, and lawmakers introduced kratom- or 7-OH-related legislation in 36 states during the 2025 and 2026 sessions, per the same Stateline report. Pennsylvania's pending bill would cap 7-OH at 0.5% while allowing natural-leaf sales to adults 21 and older; Tennessee banned kratom outright starting in July.
A Kava Cafe Weighs In From the Retail Side
Not every kratom seller in Hillsborough opposes the crackdown. Tom Ponzo and Ian Beckles, co-owners of Dignitary Cafe, which specializes in kava and kratom teas, have said they support a ban that targets concentrated 7-OH while keeping natural kratom teas legal. Ponzo has said the cafe brews its kratom tea in-house overnight using a proprietary blend of powdered kratom, and that because the business controls its own ingredients and preparation, customers keep coming back. The cafe does not sell synthetic 7-OH products, according to Ponzo, who has called for removing standalone concentrated 7-OH — sold as pills, liquids, or other forms — from the market, saying he and Beckles do not want concentrated 7-OH products or the addiction problems that can follow.
Both owners have said some of their customers use the cafe's kratom and kava offerings as an alternative after struggling with opioids or other substances. Beckles, who played nine years in the NFL, has said he opened Dignitary Cafe five years before this reporting after he stopped drinking alcohol and took up kava. He has said kratom has helped him manage the aftereffects of years of injuries and surgeries, and that it has filled the role alcohol and pills once played in his life — one he describes as a better alternative. Beckles has also said he has seen others who went through what he did become addicted to pills, and that some of his friends have died.
What Happens Next
Hillsborough County's Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposed ordinance.
